jobs and bid for larger construction projects.

BIG Ventures Ltd. will be jointly owned by Bermuda Glass Company and Island Glass and Metal.

Both Bermuda Glass and Island Glass will continue to operate as separate businesses and compete against each other for smaller contracts, both businesses said yesterday.

BIG -- an acronym of Bermuda Island Glass -- will be a vehicle for them to pool their resources and combined full-time work force of 45 for large projects.

The new firm has been formed specifically to bid for work involving the Bank of Bermuda's new building, off Gorham Road, Pembroke.

After that, BIG will remain an incorporated company and further bids for other large contracts are expected to follow.

The two companies said that the "friendly rivalry'' between them would continue to exist when competing against each other for smaller jobs.

Mr. Larry Davis, president of Bermuda Glass, said: "We will be rivals under normal circumstances but this has been predicated by a necessity to look after Bermuda jobs, pure and simple.

"This new company is simply a labour pool to enable us to bid as a legal entity.'' In the past, whenever either company has won a large contract, it has had to put all its resources into it at the expense of other work and has also had to bring in workers from abroad.

But, in the current recession, neither firm could afford to ignore smaller contracts and the retail side of their businesses, said Mr. Davis.

"Mrs. Jones' mirror down the road is just as important now as a large contract,'' he added. "We have to look after all parts of our business in Bermuda.'' Mr. Clive Thatcher, president of Island Glass, said an eventual merger between the two firms has never been discussed.

He said: "It's never come up and I cannot foresee it being an issue at the moment, but you never know. It's a changing market out there and each day seems to bring something new.'' Mr. Larry Davis.